Path 2

Greenpoint Moped Gang Rumbles — on the Web!

August 18, 2009

Greenpoint has a 12-strong moped gang called The Orphans, and you can imagine what’s coming next: they’re in a major beef about who’s a damn hipster.

The pretend thugs have gotten some press of
late, most notably from Wired, where text and pics allow readers to
“meet some of the Orphans, have a run-in with the law and take a ride over
the bridge into Manhattan, moped-style.” The article suggests the
easy-riders are unconcerned with other people’s opinions. “The mopeders ride
on at their own speed (fast but not too fast) and on their own creations
(solid but not too pretty),” Wired says. “They’re unconcerned with
acceptance, just enjoying the wind in their faces and the mild rumble
beneath them. ”

But a look at the blog for the gang’s
moped shop (the Orphanage) suggests the moped-ers do in fact care what people think, particularly commenters. A post titled “Media Moped Love Fest XXX” takes a jab at some of the negative reactions the
media coverage has attracted…

“Moped culture has been blandly described to your aunt, at a 5th grade
level. But what has been the readership reaction?” the blogger asks. He then
lists something called the “Top 5 greatest hates” e.g. “They [Hipsters]
ruin everything useful. bikes, mopeds, irony, coffee, alcohol. they take
things that can be useful in certain cases, and destroy them, make them
ridiculous..”

This last putdown, like most included in the list, appears to be lifted from
the comments section of the Die Hipster site.

There the site’s anonymous purveyor wasted no time making fun of the Orphans and their Wired write-up. The writer mentions, for example, how mini-hog riders are hipsters doomed to head back to the Midwest where they will ask their mothers for their rooms and Playstations back. 110 comments follow.

Ryan Due is a member of the Orphans and the owner of the gang’s shop.
Bringing up Die Hipster and its slew of comments makes his voice go taut.

Ryan offers that the “Top 5 great hates” post was a way of striking back at
all those detractors. He also says he’s called Die Hipster’s
owner a coward, and has said the blogger should come and meet the group face
to face.

The author of Die Hipster, reached via email, explains the Orphans
entry wasn’t personal; It was “just another post about the many kinds of
hipsters that exist. Different breeds, same principle. Starved for attention
adults that can’t believe they actually lasted in NYC for more than a few
months. I could never eliminate the entire flock. I just hope a bunch of
them read diehipster.com and feel like shit.”